Chu Ran genuinely liked these two wolf cubs; they brought out the gentlest side of her heart.
He didn't take Li Xi's teasing seriously and instead teased her back, "Why don't you get married and have two kids, and I'll help you take care of them?"
Li was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing. She glared at Chu Ran with annoyance, "You little rascal, Chu Ran, you're already trying to take advantage of me."
Chu Ran burst into laughter and patted Li Xi on the shoulder, "Okay, okay, I was just kidding."
The two smiled at each other, and a faint warmth filled the air.
"By the way, Xiaoxi, what did you gain this time?" She knew Xiaoxi's itinerary.
When Li Xi mentioned this, she remembered that Chu Ran knew something about these things, so she took out the jade pendant she had found and handed it to her.
Chu Ran took the jade pendant and examined it carefully. After a while, her expression became serious. "This is the emblem of the Red Lotus Sect. However, the Red Lotus Sect's identity tokens are usually carved from wood. This is the first time I've seen one made of jade."
She maintained contact with people lurking within the Red Lotus Cult, and she had studied these connections extensively.
The jade pendant has a warm and delicate texture, as smooth as high-grade silk, and you can almost feel its natural oily luster when you touch it.
The carved red lotus, with its delicate lines shimmering in the light, perfectly showcases the beauty and vitality of the lotus.
The words "Lotus Heart" are engraved on the back of the jade pendant, exuding a mysterious aura. In the sunlight, the red lotus on the jade pendant seems to sway gently in the breeze, emitting a faint fragrance.
Although Li Xi didn't know much about jade, she could tell that this jade pendant was obviously of high quality.
Chu Ran took the jade pendant back to her study.
Seeing that Chu Ran had left, the wolf cubs jumped down from Li Xi's arms, and the chubby little ones chased and played in the spacious courtyard.
"These two rascals are quite good at reading people's expressions." Li Xi couldn't help but laugh as she watched them playfully fighting.
She searched around but couldn't find Uncle Zhao. She asked Steward Chen and learned that he had gone out today, saying he was taking a few days off.
Chen Quan was pulled by her to go to the back mountain to help.
"Yes, pull that switch." The target began to move under his control.
Li Xi's movements as she drew the bow and shot the arrow were fluid and seamless, while the target constantly changed and moved, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. She almost never missed the target.
Despite practicing thousands of times, she still couldn't unleash the full power of the Broken Army.
"Young Master, your archery skills are even more powerful than before, with boundless force, enough to sweep across the martial world."
Chen Quan couldn't help but clap and cheer. In fact, he thought that the young master's skills in fist and footwork, as well as swordsmanship and archery, were all superb, and there were very few people in the martial arts world who could match him.
“It’s still not enough. There must be a reason why the two masters have made this arrangement.” Li Xi believes that learning is endless.
There are always mountains beyond mountains, and people beyond people. Who can guarantee that others won't improve? Being complacent and stagnant is never a good thing.
While speaking, Li Xi urged Chen Quan to increase the force so that the target could move faster.
Since the young master had said so, he couldn't slack off. He was now even more motivated than before, influenced by his surroundings.
As the sun set, the two dragged their weary steps back to the dining hall for their meal.
"Young Master, are we going again tomorrow?" Chen Quan asked her, a little scared, as he rubbed her aching arm.
Li Xi glanced at him disdainfully and couldn't help but tease him, "What's wrong? Tired? Why don't you go back to the capital first, and I'll send a message by carrier pigeon to have Master call An Qing over."
"No, no, no need. I'll rest for the night, and I'll stay with the young master tomorrow."
"Alright, we'll go again tomorrow."
"Yes." Chen Quan replied. He was exhausted and went back to his room to fall asleep immediately.
Li Xi returned to her room and took out a map of Yuncheng.
This map is classified, but it was given to her by the retired emperor, so it's reasonable to make good use of it.
As someone who was once a modern person, reading a map was not a difficult task for her.
In her past life, she would use her phone's navigation when she went to unfamiliar places, which was very convenient.
She circled all the places the master had visited, discovering he had never left Cloud City. Perhaps he's still in Cloud City, just hiding in some corner...
Night had fallen, and the deep mountains outside Yuncheng were utterly still.
Inside a simple wooden hut, Uncle Zhao sat alone by the window, carefully arranging a wooden box.
Inside the box were a few hairpins. Although they weren't particularly valuable jewelry, Uncle Zhao treasured them as if they were precious gems, and the longing in his eyes was truly touching.
He gently took out a hairpin and examined it carefully, as if he could see Xiaoya's smile on it.
"Xiaoya, I'll come find you after I've avenged you," he murmured, tears glistening in his eyes.
In another room, the smelting furnace was burning brightly, its flames illuminating the entire room. Uncle Zhao's sprained ankle had long since healed.
He first heated the ironware he was about to forge in the furnace until it was red-hot, then moved it to a large iron anvil and began forging it with a large hammer.
During the forging process, he held a small hammer in his right hand and iron tongs in his left, and relied on his experience and visual inspection to constantly turn the iron material over. When the iron block cooled slightly in the middle and hardened, he put it back into the furnace to heat it until it was red-hot, and then took it out and repeatedly forged it into shape.
Finally, after processes such as quenching, tempering, and oiling, an extremely sharp arrowhead is completed.
Zhao Bo skillfully combined the carefully selected materials and arrowheads, and a sharp arrow was completed.
He took out a sturdy bow, deftly nocked an arrow onto the bowstring, pulled the bowstring taut, and aimed at a distant tree trunk.
With a whooshing sound, the arrow shot towards its target as swiftly as a bolt from a bow.
The arrow possessed astonishing power, actually piercing through the hard tree trunk before finally coming to a stop.
"Hmm, not bad." He then picked up more iron blocks, carefully selecting them before placing them into the furnace...
Three days later, Uncle Zhao returned to the village carrying a large bundle.
He walked steadily, his face beaming with satisfaction.
At that moment, Li Xi was preparing to ride out when she saw Uncle Zhao return, and a look of surprise appeared on her face.
"Uncle Zhao, you're back!" Li Xi exclaimed excitedly, quickly stepping forward to greet him.
Uncle Zhao looked at Li Xi, his eyes filled with love and warmth. He smiled and nodded.
Li Xi took the large package from him, weighed it in her hand, and said, "Uncle Zhao, why didn't you call a carriage to come back? It would be too tiring to walk back. Has your ankle fully healed?"
"Thank you for your concern, young master. I've already fully recovered. Let's go inside. I have something to show you; I guarantee you'll be satisfied," he said mysteriously.
Back in the courtyard, Li Xi's gaze fell upon the pile of arrows, and an expression of disbelief appeared on her face. "This..."
Uncle Zhao's face beamed with pride as he explained, "These past few days, I made a special trip to visit my old friend and had him make some arrows. Let's go. Let's go to the back mountain and test their power."
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